Grisanti urging fellow legislators to pass Protect Our Children Act

by jmaloni

Press release

Fri, Apr 5th 2013 01:25 pm

Buffalo
legislator is sponsor of bill that would help honor April as National
Child Abuse Prevention Month

State
Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-I-60, has urged his colleagues in the New York
State Senate and New York State Assembly to pass the Protect Our
Children Act, which would protect children from cruel and repeated
maltreatment.

The
bill, which is sponsored by Grisanti, passed the Senate last year,
but did not pass the Assembly. Grisanti said he believes passage
would help to honor the designation of the month of April as National
Child Abuse Prevention Month.

"This
legislation will help to protect our children from anyone who is put
in a position of trust to care for them and instead commits the
ultimate violation and in some way abuses them," Grisanti said.
"If approved, this bill would increase the severity of
punishment for anyone who would cause harm to a child."

Known
as S-1721, the legislation identifies a "person in a position of
trust" to mean any person who is charged with any duty or
responsibility for the health, education, welfare, supervision or
care of another person, either independently or through another
person under 14 years of age, no matter how brief a time period it
may be."

The
offenses of aggravated murder of a child, aggravated abuse of a child
in the third degree, aggravated abuse of a child in the second
degree, aggravated abuse of a child in the first degree, aggravated
manslaughter of a child, aggravated endangering the welfare of a
child, and concealment of death would all be punishable, and a
harsher punishment would be imposed for the murder of a person under
14 years of age while in the course of committing certain sex
offenses.

April
was first declared Child Abuse Prevention Month by presidential
proclamation in 1983. Since then, April has been designated as a time
to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working
together to prevent child abuse. According to statistics obtained by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated
675,000 children were victims of child abuse last year, with more
than 1,500 children dying during that same time period as a result of
abuse or neglect.

"The
majority of reported child abuse cases have been shown to come from
situations and conditions that can be prevented when community
programs are engaged and involved and provide support to those who
need it," Grisanti said. "A community that cares about
parental support, early childhood development and maternal mental
health issues can help foster nurturing families and healthy
children. For those who do commit abuse, we must have laws on the
books that punish them for this inconceivable and reckless behavior."